True Love (Camren)

Chapter 3

Lauren gets ready before patiently waiting for her phone to go off. After about twenty minutes, it chimes from the living room and she goes to answer it.

C: Hey Lauren, it's Camila. You can come over now.

L: Ok, cool. See you in a bit then.

C: Okay. Oh, right. My address, duh.

After Camila gives her the address, Lauren looks it up on Google Maps to see it isn't that far away, only two streets. She parks in front of the two story house before walking up the path to the porch. She rings the doorbell and hears small footsteps running before a small girl opens the door cautiously.

"Oh, uh, hello," Lauren says, not expecting her to answer the door.

"Hi," she says shyly.

"What's your name?" Lauren asks, getting down to her level.

"Sofi," the young girl says, opening the door wider as she got more comfortable.

"Hi, Sofi. I'm Lauren," she says. "I'm here to see Camila."

"MILA!" Sofi calls up the stairs loudly before turning back to Lauren. "She'll be down in a minute, Lauren. You can come in," Sofi says, stepping back and opening the door widely.

"Thank you," Lauren says, smiling at the little girl before stepping inside. Lauren was suddenly hit with the smell of alcohol. It was a little faint, but it seemed to have seeped into the carpet or something. The walls had holes and dents in them here and there. Lauren wondered if someone had punched them. Sofi shuts the door behind her.

"You wanna see something I drew?" Sofi asks her excitedly.

Lauren smiles. "Sure, kiddo."

Sofi smiles before running into the living room, coming back a few moments later with a drawing. "See, this smaller girl is me, and that taller girl holding my hand is my sister. We're under a rainbow because rainbows have happy colors. It protects us," Sofi explains seriously.

"I like it. You and your sister are very close, aren't you?" Lauren asks.

Sofi nods enthusiastically. "Yeah, we do a lot together. I love her a lot. Like, this much," Sofi says, holding out both of her arms as far as she could.

"Woah, that's a lot. What's the rainbow protecting you from?" Lauren asks her, thinking this was just a game.

Sofi's eyes widen as she looks around her nervously. She takes an unsure step closer to Lauren. "Bad things," she whispers shakily.

Lauren furrows her eyebrows. Before she can ask her anything else, Camila comes rushing down the stairs.

"Sofi, what are you doing?" she asks the young girl.

"I'm showing Lauren my picture," she says simply.

"Sorry if she's bothering you," Camila says to Lauren apologetically, ushering Sofi back to the coffee table to draw.

"Not at all. I like her," Lauren says, smiling at the young one.

"Yeah, she's sweet, but she can come onto people a little... strong," Camila says, shaking her head.

"So anyway, we can go up to my room to do the homework," Camila says, pointing up the stairs.

"Okay," Lauren agrees, following her up the stairs to her room. A room down the hall had the door closed, and as Lauren got closer she realized there was something on the handle. A huge lock? Camila walks into her room, bringing Lauren with her before she could get any closer to it.